Months ago on the OB there was a reference on member made to a Firefly special edition. Repeated attempts to get clarification that they didn't mean the movie (this was before the collector's edition of it) always seemed to indicate that it indeed was the series being referred to.

Those mentions never really went anywhere because at that time no one had ever offered up any independent confirmation.

I'm so happy! Thank God my roommate is addicted to Metal Gear Solid! (And is therefore forced to buy a PS3 when the next game comes out)

I imagine TamaraC won't be the only one... the official victory of the format has a lot of people (like me) thinking "Well, now I'll need to get a player eventually" and a specific release title could easily be the "Well, it'll have to be now."

At this rate, Serenity and Firefly may have more versions than the recent Blade Runner DVD. I guess the next version will be Blu-Ray, and I just might think about getting a player...once the price drops. I just may get the new Firefly set before then.

A bit off-topic, but is it just me or does Jewel look in that youtube video as if she had again gained some weight? Could this mean that she is one of the Ausiello mentioned Whedon alums, that were supposedly auditioning for the roles on Dollhouse and that we might see her playing November? ;-)

Come to think of it, she would be perfect for the gig. She’s beautiful, has comforting and radiant presence and nicely suits for the "hopeful child getting more of the personal assignments" description. And since the first round of casting announcements consisted solely of new people, the role is only recurring and Jewel & Eliza have never worked together before, it wouldn’t even feel distractingly "house party-ishly" in any way ... :-)

I think it is more in the way of knowing how many total fans there are that would respond to something new...not how obsessive we are. They know how many internet Firefly/Serenity fans there are. They know we have money to spend.

The fan base is larger then the internet Firefly/Serenity community.

Universal/Fox have no concept of how much we are willing to pay. Just put a donate button on http://doctorhorrible.com/ for The Webadventures of Captain Malcolm Reynolds, Joss.

A bit off-topic, but is it just me or does Jewel look in that youtube video as if she had again gained some weight? Could this mean that she is one of the Ausiello mentioned Whedon alums, that were supposedly auditioning for the roles on Dollhouse and that we might see her playing November? ;-)

Dunno if that was serious but Jewel is a series regular on 'Stargate: Atlantis' which is coming back for a fifth season starting in July so I don't see how she could do both. Also, she's said several times that she didn't like carrying the extra weight to play Kaylee, that it made her feel unhealthy - to the extent that Joss let Kaylee become a bit lighter in 'Serenity' to accommodate that. So I suspect she's unlikely to go for another part that requires it (and anyway, why get a thin woman to pile on weight when bigger actresses often struggle to find really good parts ? Seems daft).

(to me it looked more like the aspect ratio was off but the video was withdrawn before I could watch it so i'm going purely from the still image)

ETA: And i'll just add that Kaylee wasn't "big" as far as I could tell, she was just soft around the edges, so the part of November would require even more weight gain since she's actually described as "heavy".

Well, seeing as how Toshiba officially discontinued production of HD-DVD players (effective Feb 19th), I'm finally buying a Blu-Ray. That said, I'm all over any Firefly/Serenity products marketed for Blu-Ray. Does this mean more Firefly/Serenity? Who knows, but if they're smart they'll jump right on it in one way or fashion.

We Browncoats are just spend-happy when it comes to our fandom so someone better realize that and gives us more gorram Firefly.

I don't think the marketplace is ready for blu-ray exclusive releases yet. DVD is far from dead.

Which is why the market needs Blu Ray exclusive releases ;) Your DVDs will still play on a Blu Ray player, but the studios are worried that the HD format war made people resistant to going to a High Def disc format, so now you will start to see Special Editions for Blu only to try to encourage people to step up. Will they love it if you re-buy everything you own on Blu? Sure, but you don't have to. Players are still $349 new, so the best bet is probably still a PS3. Anyway, good news for me, I'll be picking it up on Blu for sure if thats what this is.

Anyway my point was just that this is normal market adjustment/progress. Same things happened with DVDs where you started getting SEs with bonus features that you couldn't get elsewhere.

but the studios are worried that the HD format war made people resistant to going to a High Def disc format

I think the current state of the economy will make people resistant to going to a High Def disc format above anything else. Well apart from the pissing about with the weird and wonderful upgrades for Blu-ray. It just confuses people.

Well apart from the pissing about with the weird and wonderful upgrades for Blu-ray. It just confuses people.

True, but allow me to simplify it. All new players going forward are required to be Profile 2.0 compliant, many existing players get firmware upgrades to at least 1.1. The differences?

All levels play the movies and the commentaries/deleted scenes etc. Profile 1.1 allows you to do picture-in-picture. Profile 2.0 allows for features that rely on internet connectivity. Really, only those of us who are early adopters got to enjoy the growing pains, and if you had a PS3 as your Blu player you don't really consider them growing pains since every time the profile was updated you got a new system software release that upgraded you to be able to do all of the new stuff. By the time we see $200 players (fall '08/spring '09), which is when it will matter, people probably won't realize that some of us once had to care about the specification being updated.

And as for the state of the economy, people seek more escapes in hard times, so its not as predictable as the economic indicators might suggest (Blu software and hardware sales are up drastically, especially since early January when word of Warner's move came out).

I can't resist a shiny special edition of Firefly. Cannot resist that at all. How amazing is it that a show that didn't even make it one season on TV has had a bestselling DVD set, spawned a feature movie (with two DVD releases) and now will get the "special edition" DVD set treatment? It's a turvy-topsy world. But I love it.

Speaking of DVDs, I just noticed that the Buffy Chosen Collection is going for $99 on Amazon right now. Not bad.

Until those Blu-ray players come down drastically (like say, less than $100), it's going to leave me and countless others out of the party. While it's true that some people look for escapes when the economy is bad, one might want to make an addendum that says "people who had a decent income before the economy went bad" look for escapes when the economy is bad. They have savings to fall back on (in theory), whereas those with low incomes don't.

I'm not trying to slam people with money, it just pisses me off how expensive these HD players are. It can keep people out of the entertainment loop for years, because they have to wait for ages for the price to come down. So if this special edition is Blu-ray only, I won't be seeing it for a long time. /rant

More on topic, happy to see a special edition, probably even moreso than when Serenity's SE came out.

They JUST released the Collector's Edition this past summer. Seven months ago. SEVEN months ago!

Think yourself lucky, shishkarobb - the Collector's Edition of Serenity has never been released in the UK!

Will I buy a Blu-Ray version of Firefly? Sadly, no. Well, not yet anyway... When I can afford to get a PS3, then it will be the first thing on my shopping list (closely followed by the hopeful release of Serenity on Blu-Ray!), but that'll be a while off yet. However, would I buy a Special Edition of Firefly on regular DVD, even though I already own the original release? Hell yeah!

As for Jewel gaining/losing weight, I have to say I found Firefly Kaylee more attractive than Serenity Kaylee...

This news upsets me! :(
I don't see why there needs to be a special edition. Whoever heard of a special edition of a TV show on DVD. X-files had a special edition but that came out first... then a cheaper version was released that didn't have special features.
If they have to release something then why not release a supplementary dvd. It could include the Firefly/Wicked video! :)

This, my friends, is the day on which UnpluggedCrazy was officially declared a stupid fool.

All this time...all these years...I've thought that one had to have an HDTV to play HD-DVDs or Blu-rays. But after doing some quick research, uh, I guess not. I mean, I get that it won't be the same quality, but still. Wow. For a guy who says that movies are his passion and who owns hundreds of DVDs...what an idiot I seem.

Well, uh, so I guess I'm not anywhere near as sad about a Blu-ray Firefly as I once was. An HDTV is impossible for me to purchase, whereas a Blu-ray player is much more within the realm of possibility...

I was so poor I couldn't afford to buy a VCR until about a year before DVDs began to come out. Fortunately, I'm a little better off now. Nevertheless, I'm hoping the Blu-ray players come down in price in the fall. I would like to upgrade then. And, faithful fan that I am, I'll have to get the special edition with the new commentaries. But, yeah, UnpluggedCrazy, I too will have to wait quite awhile before I can afford an HDTV.

I don't see why people get so hyped up about the BluRay/HD-DVD stuff. What's so special about them? The picture and sound are nicer? Alright, that's fine for people who can afford those absurdly high priced players. Me? I don't really care about getting nicer picture/sound; I just want to be able to watch what I want to watch so long as I can see things and hear things well enough (and DVD does that fine enough for me).

Then again, I would very much like to get my hands on a Firefly set with commentary on every episode. If this is a BluRay exclusive, then... well, it might be give me a little bit more of a reason to get a PS3. Just a little bit.

Well, since it was the release of the Firefly box set that finally made me go out and buy a DVD player, I can see history repeating itself.

Every time I hear people talking about $350 being a lot of money for something like Blu-Ray, I have to chuckle. Back in the distant past - the early 80's I bought a VCR that cost me over $500, of course it could tape up to two weeks ahead. I think that was the last time I was anywhere near an "early adapter".

A bit off-topic, but is it just me or does Jewel look in that youtube video as if she had again gained some weight? Could this mean that she is one of the Ausiello mentioned Whedon alums, that were supposedly auditioning for the roles on Dollhouse and that we might see her playing November? ;-)

She was asked about working with Joss again, and mentioned Dollhouse, but said that he hadn't yet called her about it. She was laughing...but I think she's actually completely committed to Atlantis anyway. As to whether she's putting on weight - I've never met her in person before so have nothing to compare to, but to my novice eyes she looked very slim (but healthy). And very, very, very pretty :)

Yes, there are three regions, but at this time about 2/3rds of all titles released on Blu are actually region-ree. Its up to studios to use them and it sounds as the use pattern may be that catalog titles (ie not brand new) may in general be non-locked and that titles may go non-locked when transitioning from a new title to a catalog title. Hopefully I explained that in a way that makes sense to you. In any case, I'm sure we'll see region-free players and studios may not bother too much about region coding with releases being closer to the same schedule in all regions these days.

Meant to say also that releases like this push those with the disposable income to upgrade, thus bringing economies of scale into effect. Short version - these SEs bring prices down for players and discs. You'll see great specials for Black Friday and Christmas this year. You'll see players bundled with HDTV sets, players bundled with free movies again, etc.

supersymmetrical I absolutely agree. I can't think of any reason short of the stoppage of manufacturing of DVDs altogether that would compel me to buy into BluRay in the remotely near future when my DVDs look beautiful on my (admittedly ancient) tv, certainly no single DVD release could do it, not even Firefly. I didn't get a DVD player until four or five years ago! And it's not just the price of the player ($499 CDN last time I looked), but the discs themselves- $32 for a movie that on regular DVD can be found in the $9.99 bin? No brainer. ;)

As far as I know there aren't new commentaries for the episodes planned. There are some cast reunion type things planned that will be awesome, but I haven't heard new commentaries mentioned ever. Of course, I don't have the list sitting in front of me right now so I can't be 100% sure of everything included in the new BD edition.

And it's not just the price of the player ($499 CDN last time I looked), but the discs themselves- $32 for a movie that on regular DVD can be found in the $9.99 bin? No brainer. ;)

No Country for Old Men - $24.99 CDN on DVD, $29.99 CDN on Blu Ray. I Am Legend $28.99 CDN on DVD, $29.95 on Blu Ray. Juno DVD $32.19 CDN, $34.99 CDN Blu Ray. Blu Ray players atart at $237 US for a used/refurb player on Amazon.com, new players are falling under $349 now.

Did you see the cover Amazon put up for the BluRay Firefly...it is the Firefly Companion Volume 1 book cover bottom chopped off. LOL. That Amazon always thinking.

I hope the ship is included in the real cover.

TamaraC,

The website said "Jewel also told fans that she’d been asked to go to LA in the Spring to record a commentary for the new special edition of Firefly that they’re working on. " I didn't try to listen to the clip there.

You are right though...it can't be a special edition. That would mean Joss would edit in unused footage. They will probably call it Ultimate Edition or Collector's edition or maybe just BluRay.

I really hope Jewel is right that new commentary is being recorded. And hopefully not just Jewel. Want more commentary. Too little commentary on the Firefly DVD. Film it...put it on the DVD.

Stick some other extras on too. New stuff...old stuff we haven't seen...or Fox took off the internet a while ago.

TamaraC, I think Anon1 was trying to figure out why Jewel said she's doing a commentary, but you say there are no plans to do commentaries and that no one has said there would be. We've clearly got a discrepancy now.

I reeeeeeally really hope that it won't be region coded! Living in Sweden this is always an issue, because all the cool releases are from the US. Region codes are simply put the stupidest thing in the entire world, and I don't know if blu-ray players can be region free.

Is it possible to buy a Blu-Ray player and watch Blu-Ray discs on a standard tv or do they only work with an HDTV? Because I'll probably be able to afford a Blu-Ray player long before I can afford an HDTV.

I wish more people would do commentaries like they do with the Xena DVDs. Instead of doing an audio track on the episode, they actually filmed them watching an episode so you get the whole facial expressions/body language reactions. Maybe it's weird to want to see that, but audio over the episode is distracting. If I start to get into the episode I start tuning out the commentary.

Well, it uses up more space on the DVD but yeah, it definitely adds a dimension (not got Xena on DVD but Kevin Smith did a commentary with video for the 'Clerks X' DVD). I don't find audio only distracting though because normally the episode sound is mixed down so that they don't interfere and without sound you're only getting half the episode anyway, not really watching it. Also, it's handy to see what they're talking about when you have a commentary that actually talks about what's on screen (which a surprising number of them don't).

Is it possible to buy a Blu-Ray player and watch Blu-Ray discs on a standard tv or do they only work with an HDTV?

They only work in HD with an HDTV (duh ;) but you can still watch them at reduced quality on a normal telly (you just need to make sure you have the right output connectors on the Blu-ray player to match whatever inputs your TV has).

GrrrlRomeo I agree. Besides Xena, I do know NBC's official site for "Heroes" regularly puts up video commentaries of the episodes and I believe the video commentaries were also included on the HD-DVD release of Season 1. Unfortunately the regular DVD release only included the audio of the commentaries.

"And this is when I said "Hey" to Nathan. And then this bit right here is when he said "Hey" back. We both struggled a great deal with our motivations during these greetings and I for one was just happy it came out as convincingly as it did. Of course, with an actor like Nathan to greet off of, half your work is already done. Oh and here's where I sat down ..."

In any case, I'm sure we'll see region-free players and studios may not bother too much about region coding with releases being closer to the same schedule in all regions these days.

Wasn't the main point of region coding, that studios had to obtain region specific rights to release certain things (like music, or certrain extra's) in different area's, zeitgeist? That wouldn't change with releaseschedules being closer together. Then again, I'm all for region free players. My current DVD-collection is a combination of pretty much every region there is, anyway, so that'd make things less difficult in the future.

Also: new Firefly edition. May buy it, may not buy it. Depends on how much new stuff there is, and what the asking price is going to be.

Zeitgeist et al, thanks for the tech-talk. I've been dragged down the upgrade path, always resisting, but recently I saw "Planet Earth" on Blu-ray and a mid-size 1080p HDTV and my brains fell out. A Blu-ray Firefly, BSG, Sarah Connor Chronicles etc. will be very cool. We'll have rapidly declining prices on hardware, new releases at a premium, but maybe old DVDs still available at closeout rates so we can mix and match.

Wasn't the main point of region coding, that studios had to obtain region specific rights to release certain things (like music, or certrain extra's) in different area's, zeitgeist?

That's certainly been said, but more than anything else its about controlling who can watch the movie where because of where and when its been theatrically released. You don't want people having the ability to watch a DVD with half a dozen of their mates for less than half the price of getting them all out to the theatre.

"Planet Earth" on Blu-ray and a mid-size 1080p HDTV and my brains fell out

Right? For the record for those who don't know, standard DVD is 720x480 (in NTSC, 720x576 in PAL) lines of resolution (345,600 pixels NTSC or 414,720 PAL), often displayed and refreshed in an alternating (interlaced) series of lines. Odd lines are drawn, even lines are drawn, one half of the picture is drawn at each refresh. That is referred to as 480i (interlaced) resolution, newer progressive scan DVD players will refresh every line at once.

In an ideal setup Blu Ray is capable of outputting what is called 1080p (progressive) where all lines are refresh at once. The resolution is 1920x1080 or 2,073,600 pixels. Compare that to 345,600 - you don't need to know anything other than math to know that the HD picture will bring out more detail in the same image frame. Translation: you can pretty much read the ingredients on a bag of chips someone is holding or perhaps a more appropriate translation for this audience: more salty goodness.

Yeah, the rights thing (though true) is mostly a crock since 95+ % of DVDs are eventually released in at least R1 and 2 so that overseas rights are negotiated for most films anyway. With the window between cinema and DVD release closing i'd say that region encoding is becoming (even more) non-sensical. It's always been a bit of a joke anyway, the very first DVD player I bought (about 8 years ago) came with an A4 sheet of simple instructions for using the remote to hack the player to run all region DVDs and the vast majority of players have the same thing only a Google search away.

(and 'Planet Earth' is stunning in HD - the place where I bought my TV has it running on most of the sets they're trying to sell and you only need to look at it to see why. And on behalf of all BBC licence payers, you're welcome BTW ;)

Note to self: drink entire pint before the rest of the licence payers turn up ;).

(in fairness, if you've watched Discovery then you've also chipped in financially since it was a co-production. Do you have the US one BTW ? It'd be odd to me to hear Sigourney Weaver narrate it - I remember having a pretty big "WTF ?" moment when I first heard 'Mythbusters' with an American narrator, though I did initially think it a bit odd that a US show was narrated by an Englishman ;)

I confirmed this morning that there are no additional episode commentaries planned for this release. There is a cast reunion feature that should be pretty cool. I'm afraid that Jewel misspoke or misunderstood.

Since both of my sets are loaned out right now, apparently permanently :`( , I've been thinking about buying another set anyway. I hope it's a combo release since I barely could afford to buy a new regular TV last year; I certainly won't be able to get either a Blu-Ray player or an HDTV. If this means commentary on "Jaynestown" or "Ariel", though, I would still buy a non-combo and somehow find me a player.

ETA: Eh, I was still typing when TamaraC posted. For me, a lot will depend on the reviews here when it comes out.

The feature being that they stuck a dvd on one side and an HD-DVD on the other and used some Elmer's glue (I'm mostly kidding ;)). The problem with combo discs was a) double the scratchable side (and HDDVD's scratch resistance wasn't as good as Blu Ray's is) and b) they charged you $5 to $10 US more for combo vs. regular discs.

I saw there were rumblings that the 51GB aka triple-layer spec allowed for single sided combo discs (though early word was that that caused disc errors aplenty as well). I will repeat it, higher native capacity is preferable to multiple layers.

Well 24 Season 1 is getting a special edition. I do kind of hope that this is a blu-ray exclusive so that I dont feel like I have to the shell out $$$ for episodes I already have with maybe a few more commentaries (movies are a different matter though, depends on the movie).

Jewel is appearing at another Australian convention this weekend, so I'm sure one of our friendly Brisbane members will ask her for further enlightenment. She said (in reference to something else altogether) that she was really bad at keeping secrets, so I guess she'll tell whatever she knows!

ozjenny, if Jewel even has the details of the DVD. She probably just knows that she has been invited to do a gig for the DVD with the majority of the rest of the cast. Trust me, it is a cast reunion feature that will be an added bonus material to the Blu Ray release this fall.